EFG Hermes, the leading financial services corporation in Frontier Emerging Markets (FEM), has announced that its Investment Banking division successfully completed advisory to ACWA Power on its SAR 4.5 billion ($1.2 billion) initial public offering (IPO) on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). EFG Hermes served as joint bookrunner and underwriter on the transaction.
ACWA Power offered 81,199,299 shares on the bourse, representing 11.1 per cent of the company’s share capital at an offer price of SAR 56.0 per share, implying a market capitalisation of SAR 41.0 billion (USD 10.9 billion). International Company for Power and Water Projects (ACWA Power) debuted on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) with the symbol 2082 and under the energy sector today.
Mohamed Abou Samra, Managing Director at the Investment Banking Division at EFG Hermes, said: “We are thrilled to have worked with ACWA Power on this landmark transaction, which is one of the largest offerings coming out of Riyadh since Saudi Aramco went public.
The deal, which garnered substantial interest from both local and foreign investors, follows just days after the team closed on the successful listing of ADNOC Drilling on the ADX – a testament to the team’s ability time and time again to funnel global capital into attractive local opportunities. Today’s transaction primes us to capitalize on the expected uptick in ECM activity in Saudi Arabia following the kingdom’s push to spur capital market activity, with the team already having lined up a strong transaction pipeline in the coming period.”
Founded in Riyadh in 2004, ACWA Power is a leading private developer, owner, and operator of long-term contracted power generation and desalinated water projects worldwide. Today, it has 64 projects in operation, construction, or advanced development in 13 countries across three continents, with a total project cost of SAR 248 billion (USD 66 billion). Its operational capacity across all markets currently provides 20.3 GW of electricity and 2.8 million m3 per day of desalinated water.
2021 has seen the team ramp up its ECM executions, closing a record 8 transactions to date worth $3.5 billion. Most recently, the division acted as joint bookrunner on the AED 4.0 billion listing of ADNOC Drilling on the ADX; joint bookrunner on the Dh2.7 billion listing of Yahsat on the ADX; sole financial advisor and joint bookrunner on Fawry’s EGP 1.2 billion follow-on sale on the EGX; joint bookrunner and underwriter on Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies’ SAR 540 million IPO on Tadawul; and acted as sole financial advisor on two M&A deals for Agthia this year.
